Description
Book SynopsisIn this short, lucid, rich book Michael Dummett sets out his views about some of the deepest questions in philosophy. The fundamental question of metaphysics is: what does reality consist of? To answer this, Dummett holds, it is necessary to say what kinds of fact obtain, and what constitutes their holding good. Facts correspond with true propositions, or true thoughts: when we know which propositions, or thoughts, in general, are true, we shall know what facts there are in general. Dummett considers the relation between metaphysics, our conception of the constitution of reality, and semantics, the theory that explains how statements are determined as true or as false in terms of their composition out of their constituent expressions. He investigates the two concepts on which the bridge that connects semantics to metaphysics rests, meaning and truth, and the role of justification in a theory of meaning. He then examines the special semantic and metaphysical issues that arise with relat
Trade ReviewDummett's Thought and Reality... is characteristically brilliant. * John Perry, Mind *
Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. Facts and Propositions ; 2. Semantics and Metaphysics ; 3. Truth and Meaning ; 4. Truth-Conditional Semantics ; 5. Justificationist Theories of Meaning ; 6. Tense and Time ; 7. Reality As It Is In Itself ; 8. God and the World
